


A Night in the Underworld

by Corehealer



Series: Burden and Belonging: Sarah's Shadow - Emet-Selch/WoL Ship Shadowbringers and Ongoing FFXIV Fanfiction [4]
Category: Ascian - Fandom, Final Fantasy XIV, Shadowbringers - Fandom
Genre: Altered Mental States, Anal Sex, Consensual Mind Control, F/M, Light Dom/sub, Masks, Masturbation, Memory Magic, Mind Sex, Oral Sex, Other, Reunion Sex, Romantic Soulmates, Sex, Shapeshifting, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:06:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26721106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corehealer/pseuds/Corehealer
Summary: A romantic and erotic exploration of Emet-Selch/Hades and Azem, and later, her reincarnation, in the form of my FWoL Sarah Corehealer.Sarah finds herself awoken from a strangely vivid, rapacious dream wherein she relives Persephone's first intimate interaction with Emet-Selch after her Ascension to the seat of Azem. Emet emerges from the Azem stone to tease her about this dream, and to suggest a way for them to experience a more active form of reminiscence together...Self indulgent. Slightly relevant to my main series themes/progression and now added into it retroactively so as to account for later references to events in this work. More lewd/sexual content of a variety of kinds to come in the future, primarily of EmetxWoL/Sarah-Selch, but also occasionally including other characters/ships with WoL.
Relationships: Azem & Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch, Azem (Final Fantasy XIV)/Original Characters, Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Warrior of Light
Series: Burden and Belonging: Sarah's Shadow - Emet-Selch/WoL Ship Shadowbringers and Ongoing FFXIV Fanfiction [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913674
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	A Night in the Underworld

_Wherefore does the weary mind wander in want of answers?_

_Where does desire beckon thy soul, child?_

_You who know so much, and yet so little of yourself._

_Come, and I will show you._

***

A hallway, dim, lit by the lamps so common to that phantom city, but lit low as if for slumber. Ensconsed, casting shadows.

A single door at its end. A door, simpler than most in the city. Ornate only in its edges, with inviting curves. His room. Now, their room.

“ _The meal was to your liking my dear_?”

A mix of salads, fruits, meats and flavours from all over the world. A feast, more akin to a king’s table, but he would spare no expense this evening. “Yes, a most excellent choice full of variety, and paired so well with the wine. After all that time spent on my feet and talking I was in need of a good dinner. You have my thanks, Hades.”

“ _The pleasure is ever mine, dear Persephone. My Traveler_.”

They chuckled and smiled, kissing on the couch in his lounge. She waited there a while for him to put away the last of their dishes. They were alone, and night had fallen outside. She gazed out at the lights of Amaurot from behind glazed crystal windows.

This was the night, after she had been accepted. Ascended to her seat on the Convocation. Her role. Azem, the Traveler. They had celebrated long into the evening in the company of many friends. Her new peers. Now she was within his home, not far from the Capitol, a building she too would soon come to inhabit. She had visited his home several times before this point, but only glimpsed that door. He had remarked upon it briefly; his bedroom. Unremarkable, though, given their newfound infatuation, certainly a domain she sought to plumb. He had noted with some pleasure her interest, but allowed them time to focus on her preparations to ascend to her seat. Time now came around to its appointed hour, and he savoured every moment.

After a few more moments, he beckoned her towards the door. He sought to show her something. A surprise.

Yes, show her everything indeed.

“ _Something I’ve been working on in my free time. Not as often as one might like, but duty comes first_.”

“Is the work of the Convocation so overtaxing that you cannot find time for yourself?”

“ _Not necessarily; it varies with time, and of late things have been quiet in the city and abroad. In truth the perfect time for your arrival into our midst, and into my life besides. Come_.” He held the door open, and she stepped inside.

“A majestically appointed room within which to find rest; fair puts my own lodgings near the Library to shame!” She cast her eyes about the place from behind her mask. A bed, black and purple with fine gold filigree, curtained borders and feathery soft sheets. A large desk heaped high with books, crystals and strewn papers. A radio, turned off, on the bedside table, well-worn from use. Lamps on the walls, dimmed as those outside, creating a soft mood. A closet, wherein could be seen many masks, robes and formal clothes, as well as a few special items for sleeping.

A saxophone?

“You play?”

“ _When the mood takes me. Elidibus is fond of piano, and some other members of the Convocation and our staff play other instruments. We occasionally play together in a large band, normally during city holidays. I’ve had less chance to play it of late, but with good reason_.” He gestured to his desk.

“I’m partial to the violin, myself, though out of practice.” She sat down at his desk.

“ _I would love to hear you play sometime. Wait but a moment_.” He moved to one side of the room, reaching around in some drawers for his gift. After a moment, he produced for her a book, leather bound and locked.

“What is this?”

“ _A journal; my journal. An account of my life, to this point, as honest as my perspective can allow, and something of a scrapbook for my thoughts_.” He regarded the book with a hand placed gently on its cover.

“ _Keeping a record of one’s life is a rarer pastime these days, when so many modern distractions abound in our fair city, but call me nostalgic. When not at a theatre show, I tend to spend my free time here, writing most anything that comes to mind. Play ideas, musical scores, concept notes, accounts. Even little things like dreams and wishes_.”

“Seems a passing strange gift?”

“ _Ah, the gift is not the book itself, but in one of its pages. Allow me_.” He produced a simple key from his robe pocket, unlocked the journal, and opened it to about halfway through its voluminous pages. “ _Ah, here_.”

He pointed to a pair of blank pages, empty save for a single black rectangle on the rightmost page, vertical and still.

“ _I’ve been doing some research with some other Convocation members on matters pertaining to teleportation magicks, and aetherial manipulation. An unexpected element of that research that I happened upon in my own time led me to make a most curious discovery, which in turn led to this creation. A portal in a book_.”

“A portal? To where?”

“ _To wherever a mind seeks to go. Normally a dream, or some other imaginary landscape of one’s own devising_.”

She gazed at the black rectangular portal, dormant and seemingly bereft of activity.

“ _You must needs simply place your hand upon it, and think upon a scene, a landscape, anything your heart desires. And it will create a space for you within the book, which is as real as life, and suited to your preferences. I find that I use it often for solitude and thought, even away from this place which would normally provide me such comforts and privacy. It has the added benefit of being stimulating for one’s own creative impulses when one can simply weave the world in ways even our creation magicks cannot achieve with ease, or which would normally cause problems for others_.”

She motioned to place her hand upon it, but his hand held her back.

“ _This gateway is a personal prototype. I produced a more refined one in another journal, a blank one but alike to my own. Here; your true gift_.” Another journal, produced from within his robe’s innermost folds, leather bound and locked but dyed a sumptuous shade of sapphire blue. It gleamed even in the low light of the room.

He handed her it’s key, even as he shut his own journal and put it away. “ _My gift of writing, and a portal to your imagination. Something dear to me, that I feel will be dear to you as well_.”

She smiled softly. A heartfelt gift, and one she could not have imagined, ironically. Certainly not all she expected from her first foray into this room. She was at a loss for words.

“ _I would love, more than anything in the world, to see what you write. What stories you might tell, of your journeys, and your imaginings. Your dreams_.”

He placed his hands in hers, warm to the touch though slightly trembling now. Anticipatory.

“ _And I would love to share in them_.”

“Hades… this is more than I could have hoped for. Thank you so much!” She embraced him, fairly knocking him over from his desk seat to the floor. She kissed him, masks becoming disjointed on their faces as they clicked together, pressed close. They gradually did fall to the floor, wrapped up in mutual bliss, lips pressed tight for several sweet moments. Then she rose, beaming, as he took a moment to breathe.

She took a moment to remove her mask, and placed the blue journal on his desk, looking it over. “Should I try it now?”

“ _In a moment, my dear_.” He picked himself up and removed his mask as well. “ _I had another surprise in mind, if you would indulge me…_?”

“After this? I would indulge you anything you ask! You’ve been nothing but perfect this evening.”

“ _Anything_?” His lips curled up in that all too familiar smirk she enjoyed so much. She mimicked it in turn, knowing now his intent; the book, a fine gift indeed, had also been the insinuation. She approached slowly, looking bashful and innocent, falling into an altogether different script. From beneath her robe’s sleeves, clawed gloves appeared as if willed there.

She caressed his neck first, encircling it just so, gently. Fingertips pinpricks on his muscles, grazing skin and nerves. An electric tingle, as if she was ever so slightly running lightning magic through her fingers.

“Shall I take the lead, or would you prefer to?”

In response, he snapped his fingers. The first instance in her memory of him doing so in her presence. All at once, her clothes had disappeared. She was completely naked. No embarrassment came, however, only mutual smiles and mischievous looks. He pounced, and presently had her pinned to his bed.

“ _Let’s see what happens…_ ”

They took it in turns, after she had removed his own clothes by conventional means. Positions shifting and aether flowing free and spreading off from their forms on to the bedboard and spokes holding up the curtained rims, coiling about them and about each other. Wrapped in a miasma of their own ecstasy and enjoined souls, mimicking their bodies, which presently were a blur of action and reaction. Their first time together. Savouring every moment.

Tension released itself gladly as she began to suck on his member, returning through her own conjurations the clawed gloves so fond to her work and personality. Through electrical impulses did she weave new and irresistible sensations for him to experience, a story all their own, now writ large in his skin as tiny scratches and playful motions, exploring and inviting. She drank deep of him, and all his majesty. Scarcely did they begin than she had already coaxed from him a release, and then another. He had been holding back a while, waiting. Yearning.

She swallowed every drop, and fairly begged for more.

But they were far from finished, and in time she found herself below him again, warm and full, heaving back and forth, his face in her hands. She cried out, and bade him come close before sinking her teeth into his neck and her claws into his back. He felt hot, fulfilling. She sought all that he had, and she would have it. Legs wrapped around him and drew him in. Pelvis thrusting, and her warmth a heaven. Thought ceased, and gave way only to her. To him.

Bells passed. The bed became a shamble, as they changed positions and dynamics and cast aside his pillows and blankets. In one instant, he was behind her, arching her back, grabbing her neck as she had his, slamming into her ass. Fingers bitten by her teeth as they suckled in her mouth. In another instant, she had him below her as she rode him hard, gazing down into his eyes as she sweated and simpered, hair flowing freely. In yet another, he was behind her as they lay side by side, spooning, as he gently massaged himself inside her, occasionally teasing her clitoris and reaching inviting hands forward to cup at her breasts and play with her. All the while, they sang their songs, and spoke no words. None were needed.

Finally, after a long time, they were spent. She orgasmed a final time, then fell upon him, resting and panting on his chest. Arms and legs shaking involuntarily as her gloves now gave way their glamour and dissipated leaving her normal hands bare. He mustered the strength to interlace fingers and aether with them, and drew her close for another kiss. They both smiled, and there rested, falling asleep, listening to beating hearts.

She mumbled to him. “I’ve wanted to do… do that for a long time… should see if the book opens up any exciting possibilities there…”

“ _A fine idea… Persephone…_ ” He whispered close to her ears. “ _I love you_.”

“I love you too.”

Sleep claimed them.

***

She awoke with a start. The dream had ended but had been real and intense enough to be uncommon to her experience of dreams. She found she had even stained her sheets a bit, growing moist down below. She groggily adjusted her sheets and placed new ones on the bed from the closet, placing the soiled ones in a basket. Something to deal with in the morning.

She was in her room in Revenant’s Toll, one of the private living quarters in the Stones, the night after their first journey there. He had retired to the Azem stone at the day’s end, and she had spent several hours in peaceful sleep. The room was dark, and she was alone. No lights, but her natural Miqo’te low light adaptation allowed her to manage well enough not to bump into anything. She was presently in her smallclothes, half awake. As she sat upon the new sheets on the bed preparing to make another return to sleep, she heard him stir.

“ _A lovely memory, wouldn’t you agree hero_?”

“For lack of the real thing, for the time being, yes.”

“ _The journal I gave to you, like so much else, was lost in the Sundering. But I recalled it as I sifted through that which the stone preserved; it took a measure of the journal’s recollections and your work with the portal and held them close. I had forgotten about it until now_.”

“You were more eager to reminisce on certain details though I see.” She grinned.

“ _And you appear to have quite enjoyed yourself too my dear. If your bedsheets are anything to go by_.” By this point she had also changed her panties, though she had the suspicion she would not need them in a moment.

“ _And if you wish, we can still… reminisce in a more active manner_.”

Her eyebrows and ears perked up. “Is that so? You lack a body.”

“ _Oh for what I have in mind, your body will more than suffice to elicit the desired response_.”

His aethereal form appeared before her, shrouded and almost frightening, save for the fact she felt an intense heat radiate from his aether, and could feel his excitement mingle with her now growing interest. His eyes glittered in the darkness.

“ _You have only to allow yourself to be taken by me, in much the same manner as how an Ascian might attain an unwilling host_.” She was speechless at this for a moment. He continued.

“ _I would never do such a thing without your consent, of course. But… let us say our bond allows a great deal of mutual activity. Shared experiences. Something you will be able to indulge in turn, when at last I possess my flesh again_.”

“This is not all that different in theory from what we did in Amaurot, when we met. When we took our little journey?”

“ _Just so. The only journey, however, will be one of the mind. And I have a surprise for you, hero…_ ”

“You are certainly full of surprises, aren’t you?”

A flash of his lips. That same grin. She mimicked it again in turn.

“What must I do?”

“ _Just relax, close your eyes and allow me to take the lead…_ ”

She closed her eyes. In a past life, she would never have allowed herself such all encompassing trust and vulnerability in the presence of an Ascian. But then, in another past life, things had been different. Things were always different somehow. They never made sense, or never satisfied. Always came up short.

Now… now perhaps they could start making more sense.

He placed a gloved hand on her forehead, controlling his breathing or what passed for it in his immaterial essence. She suddenly felt a solitary stinging sensation at the back of her neck, right at the spine, and then an all consuming rush of energy and intoxicating emotions running up her nose and face, cascading over cheeks, eyes and mouth and up into her mind. In a moment, his visage had departed, and in its place upon her face, the sigil of Emet-Selch rose red in triumph over her features.

Her lips moved, and both of them spoke in unison.

“ _Ahahaha… this is a fine form indeed! Strong and supple, yet soft in all the right places. I could get used to running you ragged like this hero_!”

She remained fully aware, if not now entirely in control of her body. She spoke in turn, her voice mingling with his own, the words echoed in both tenors and tones.

“I look forward to the same. But please, be careful not to do anything irresponsible. I would hate to have to eject you mid coitus.”

A laugh, echoing off the walls. “ _You wound me my dear. When I have finished with you there won’t be any desire for aught but my touch to return_.”

“With how long you’ve been planning this, I would say you were the one desiring my touch to return far more.” She smirked, eyes beginning to roll back ever so slightly as Emet-Selch began his great work.

“ _I have waited eons for this. And I will savour every moment_.” She felt electricity on her neck, like how she had embraced his own in the dream but from invisible fingers. And then, a kiss. And a nibble. And a bite. She gasped and smiled.

“ _Oh how I have longed for this…_ ”

“Silence, and continue.”

She found herself motioned onto the bed, where presently her body began to convulse slightly, and her hands found their way beneath what little clothing she retained. Before long she was fingering herself, tail swishing happily as he plunged her own fingers deep in exploration, seeking out her new erogenous zones. She bore no resistance to his touch, and in truth by this point resistance to his will was impossible. He was becoming more capable of bending her body to his every whim with each passing moment. She simply receded into his embrace, and allowed him to take her for a ride.

One orgasm. She spasmed her body, back arching and tail peaking upwards. He tugged at her tail with invisible hands, tensing her nerves in a pleasurable symphony of sensation.

Two. She yielded to his touch, her touch. She begged him for more, without a word. Her answer to his efforts a pool of her own juices on the bed, between her legs.

Three. She panted, with thoughts turned away to naught but the joy of his ministrations. He might as well have been on top of her.

A fourth time. She collapsed, reaching the limits of even her own considerable strength. Body hot, and skin almost changing colour from blue under the heat of blood flowing freely in her veins, excited.

“ _The body exhausts itself. A fine form, but better served in time by my flesh in concert. I suspect you will enjoy this more…_ ”

She heard the sound of fingers snapping echoing in her mind, and was drawn inwards towards it. The sight of the room faded, and was replaced by a black void, a space where only a solitary white horizon line provided point of reference. Into this mental realm came suddenly the choking, smoky form of Hades as he had appeared to her in their final battle. A sorcerer of eld, red leylines and claws, crowned in glory. His voice boomed in the darkness, rapturous and almost sounding of an applause from the audience of a stage play.

“ _Welcome hero, to this place where memory is made_.”

She looked around, barely possessing a comprehensible form here. Her hall of recollections. A gift from another life too. A conscious place, on the edge of the unconscious mind, like standing on a sea of infinite knowledge of the self, as yet ever out of reach. Or was it?

Something was stirring in her subconscious. Something she had not known in a very, very long time. Not since she had been in the fullness of herself, in the height of her power and her role as Azem. He could see it beginning to resurface and unfold.

“ _Ahhh… you remember this too! Auspicious! Focus on it_!”

She strained a bit to see, to feel around and reach out for it. What was it? Where could it be?

A whisper now, coming from his mask. Echoing in her every nerve. He guided her now, fumbling in her ignorance, to remember.

“ _Find the deepest, darkest pit you can find, and cast yourself into it_.”

She gazed down, half lidded eyes. Blackness greeted her, and she dived into it bodily.

“ _Writhe and bathe in it and allow it to seep into every orifice, every corner of your soul_.”

Tendrils of him found their way into her, and caressed her. Slithered into her body, her mind, her soul. Her eyes wept darkness and bliss. And then; revelation. She had found it. It was every bit as glorious as his.

His mask beamed and glowed as it radiated the light of her sun, rising from the ashes. A shimmering mirror of his true form, patterns of white and blue crisscrossed with gold, masks as bounteous as those on his arms, and purple leylines matching his. Swirling and coruscating outward, crackling with lightning and power. Her body as bright as the sun and shining. She fairly gleamed.

She spoke.

“Behold, a sorcerer of eld, returned to her seat.”

“ _One day you shall reclaim this gift in truth and all else that exists to impart of your legacy. You will surpass it. And in this way, you will grow strong, and bless this Star with guidance. To make your will reality_.”

She smiled, as much as one could be said to do so from within such a visage. Her leylines suddenly shot outwards, as did the smoky light of her body, the stars emanating in sparks, all moving as fast as light towards him.

“My will. Reality.”

Now it was his turn to submit. She subsumed his soul form into her own, and there did bask in the shade of his all encompassing shadow, just as he basked in the light of her all encompassing brilliance. Sex was one thing; but equally if not more enjoyable was this meeting of the soul. Two lovers now reunited in the most intimate of ways. Darkness and Light, seeking synthesis. Stasis of moment, dynamic of action. Desire. Motion.

After a moment, she retreated from him, seeking to play with him. Stray lights and lines of power caressing his masks and his arms and his crown. She coaxed a whimper from him, ere long.

“ _No… do not leave me so. After so long… stay with me_.”

She pressed him into the folds of her new body, smothering him in herself, masks shifting and changing expressions, colours of the rainbow erupting from all sides as the horizon line began to bounce, up and down. A soundwave. Two bodies, entwined. The drowning force of an orchestra. Void becoming Light, like a prism blessed, and returning to Void, again and again.

They stayed in that place and time for what seemed an eternity, each body changing and shifting to match the movements of their desires, their explorations. They knew each other as few beings could, given the Sundering. But they would set it aright. So that all could experience this glorious union in their own time, and remember. She caressed the locks of his hair, or what passed for such a motion in this moment, as she kissed his mask with her own. Tears flowed free and crystallized, mingling with their duality.

For a time, she even wore his face, and he hers. Their masks passing between them as if they were merely changing clothes. Burdens taken in gladness. No secrets remained between them. No touch or scent or sound or taste or sights fairer remained beyond their ken. Theirs was a complete existence in an incomplete world, however fleeting.

***

She awoke. Morning outside the window, and the sounds of the people of the Toll going about their business. She had overslept, as her chronometer, a gift from Nero, spoke of the hour nearing midday.

She looked over; the Azem stone sat dormant on the bedside table. At her glance, it awoke.

“ _Late night hero_?”

“Oh hush.” They laughed together.

“ _I love you, Sarah_.”

“I love you too, Hades.”

She began to clean herself up, and prepared to greet the day, softly smiling.


End file.
